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The list in the first chapter of Leviticus contains only bovine, sheep, goats and pigeons; all typified later, in Leviticus 11, as clean/pure animals. Thats right, adding or subtracting from Scripture, according to Scripture, is illegal. Scripture makes it clear that Ashers tribal land-boundary ended around the coastal city of Tyre (Joshua 19:29). But this I do know, when people say that because those pigs died it shows that Jesus was not a good and virtuous man theyre forgetting three things. Of course this kosher interpretation is just as obvious painfully obvious to John MacArthur and Piper, yet I've never seen either refute the issue or deal honestly with their doubts. Luke means it to be an extraordinary event. Both of our good pastors assume that the people in Gerasene (Gadarene or Gergesene) were Gentiles in Gentile territory, partially because of the pigs, partially because of the demoniacs and partially because it fits their bias. Look at the prophets; they also prove Scripture doesnt change. Seen in this light, Jesuss actions against the herd were more than appropriate and neither Matthew, Mark nor Luke bothered to explain or rationalize the Masters actions. about a.d. 65. Do you remember at the end of the book, in the sixth book, when the King of Gondor and his captains and the host of Gondor have arrived at the black gates of Sauron Sauron is the evil figure in the book and if you know Tolkien's cosmology, he was actually an apprentice to the Satan figure of Tolkien's writings. He always followed Gods Law. These forces plundered Gerasa, Philadelphia, Pella, and others (Jos. The city was large and well planned. Most Christians believe Messiah is the Second Person of the Trinity. The action is no different than Revelation 14:14-15 where we see the Son of Man brandishing a sharp sickle. While animal-abuse cases arent normally rampant among church-goers, its no thanks to this bishops official policy. And John nicely parallels Jesus who said, not the smallest letter nor the smallest comma will pass away from the Law (Matthew 5:18). May God grant us the liberation through Jesus Christ to become what that nameless man became. Originally published in Tabletalk, our daily Bible study magazine. 2 And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, Isaiah 44:9; Isaiah 44:19 Pigs were the required sacrifice on the altar in the temples of Zeus Olympus (Greek) or Jupiter Capitolinus (Roman), the same supreme god of all Hellenic theology known as the "king of Unsurprisingly in such a place, Jesus finds a man possessed by unclean spirits. THE PIGS DID IT FOR HIM!! In fact, they are, Yet the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke actually report that the towns people many would have been the owners or friends of the pig owners or people who were connected to the trade in the swine were, Also, wouldnt that be a type of sin and another example of how he may not have, All in all, after Jesus had trashed the livelihood of so many, we have to agree that they were, Every place the Master went on his travels it was to minister to a Jew, just as Paul said, To the Jew first (, Answering, he said, I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. (, As well, every place the Master went on his travels was inside of the, Scripture makes it clear that Ashers tribal land-boundary ended around the coastal city of Tyre (, Besides this Biblical evidence that Jesus and the woman were within Israels inheritance, there is also a prophesy that God will settle His People in the future in Gilead (a sizeable part of todays Kingdom of Jordan) and in, The real-estate on the east side of the lake of Galilee where Jesus met the demons and the swine was also part of Israel-proper. Cant we be candid in our search to know God? It seems Jesus allowed the demons to destroy the pigs so that the people could see just what demons are up to when they assault people. Nevertheless, the interconnections within Scripture, from the beginning, to the middle, and to the very end, are wonderful to see, just like a beautiful flower. It's His person and His power that we're having our attention draw to and there are four things in particular that I want you to see in this passage. Gods Law even has two commands that equate domestic livestock with wild animals. But wait, realize how deep Gods affection for animals goes. And guess what this week's focus is on? There was a logic in this. Amen. As for Matthew, he quoted Jesus as commanding the demons, and used the plural form of the verb, go. The land of the Gerasenes was on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. And then God Himself repeated it five more times in the same book: Leviticus 11:45, Leviticus 19:2, Leviticus 20:2, Leviticus 20:7-8 and Leviticus 20:26! noted the official establishment of Christianity and discontinuance of pagan worship in the 5th cent. Those people were Jews in Nazareth. and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea. The real irritation is people saying the Law was impossible to obey, when Scripture says the opposite it true. California - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. In retaliation for the massacre of the Jews at Caesarea, the Jews sent several raiding parties into the Gentile cities of the Decapolis. That is all I know. Now I want to say very quickly, my friends, that there is no power in this universe that can cause a rationale being to sin. Go be a witness to Me as My disciple.. No Jewish farmer would keep swine, and no Jewish region would tolerate the presence of pigs, let alone two thousand of them (Mark 5:13). The list in the first chapter of Leviticus contains only bovine, sheep, goats and pigeons; all typified later, in Leviticus 11, as clean/pure animals. On the other hand, the Masters usually thick-headed students, the Tedious Twelve, didnt question him about this! We have it all down on paper exactly how gentle Gentiles can get when they get annoyed by a Jew. xviii. The good pastor actually believes that a Jewish man can rationally decide the best sleeping quarters Tomb or no tomb? All of us may be so concerned with our own livelihoods that we fail to serve other people and help those in desperat It was part of the Greco-Roman region known as the Decapolis, or ten towns. It was Gentile territory, the land of foreign gods, a place of idolatry. Wed also have to confess that the farmers were not Gentile. And he is sent out to negotiate with Aragorn and Gandalf, and the others. Worse yet, dont trust one who says Scripture evolves. (, But MacArthurs logical is funny for another reason. Delivered to your inbox! Ligon Duncan (MDiv, Covenant Theological Seminary; PhD, University of Edinburgh) is the Chancellor & CEO of Reformed Theological Seminary, the John E. Richards Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology, and the President of RTS Jackson. The real-estate on the east side of the lake of Galilee where Jesus met the demons and the swine was also part of Israel-proper. Its not possible for either of them to change, and therefore, inconceivable that Jesus would modify one iota of what he helped write. Pig meat, according to Scripture, is as unclean as the demons that Jesus sent into the swine. Two Sundays ago Take care then, how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away. They thought those pigs were theirs. And low and behold, two gospels specify that Jesus didnt go into Tyre (part of modern Lebanon), but that he was only in the vicinity of the city (Matthew 15:21; Mark 7:24 and Mark 7:31). Who were the gerasenes in the bible? Instead of recklessly freeing the doves into the air (as erroneously shown in The Jesus Film and other Bible movies), Scripture records with precise detail that Jesus only knocked over the chairs of the pigeon owners, and/or told them to take their feathered property and leave (Matthew 21:12; Mark 11:15; John 2:16) he didnt use his whip on the birds or fling them into the air to be attacked by falcons or eagles. Im not saying I totally believed the stories, but I cannot believe that a single other place could not be found to send the legion. What's going on here? The Messiah gave every Jew there that day a glimpse of the judgement to come. Instead of dead Egyptians washing up on the shore, we see dead pigs, an intentional insult to the minions of Satan. Israels real enemy is Satan. This location agrees with the description given by the ancient writers. For less than $5/mo. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. In actual fact, when you stop to think about it, because God denounced pork in Leviticus, and then Jesus destroyed two thousand, and that event is thrice repeated by Matthew, by Mark, by Luke it all adds up to a big confirmation of the fact that God doesn't change. Why should this surprise us? Plus, these additions by John connect back to other passages in interesting ways. WebWhy were there pigs in gerasenes? WebWho do you care more about, people or pigs? Thus, we are not surprised that there was "a great herd of pigs" feeding near the tombs where the Gerasene demoniac was living (5:11). Jesus is equating his commandments which can only be the ones in the Law of Moses, because he gave no commandments in the Gospels with his Fathers commandments in the Five Books of Moses. That is the exact opposite of other godly men (compare with, Lastly, even if Mr. Pipers explanation were true, look what its, The hard-hearted views of the Bishop of Hippo are not biblical because righteous people are obliged by God to be considerate to all animals, even, Are not two sparrows sold for the smallest coin, and yet one of them cannot fall to the earth apart from your Father? Gods Law has a law that you cannot change Gods Law. I beg You, do not torment me. For He (that is, Jesus) had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. The hard hearts of those who reject Jesus. 3 He lived among the tombs; and no one could restrain him any more, even with a chain; 4 for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and It's a glorious picture of Jesus love for lost souls, even a Gentile. WebGadarenes. Sinai. Read it for yourself. So He got into the boat and returned. Because God is so steady, and doesnt reverse or repeal, He can be trusted to do what He promises; good or evil. Well, Ill try and explain that before the end of the sermon, but there were several titles that didn't get included in the sermon bulletin today. This made them fit for consumption. He's no longer under the domination of demons or his own sin. Test your knowledge - and maybe learn something along the way. The power and the person of Jesus Christ. But there is a message in this for all of us and it is simply this we may not be possessed by demons, but if we are possessed by what we want or by what we have and if what we want or what we have is not God in the Gospel of His dear Son, Jesus Christ, then we are no less in the thrall of sin that this man. Did you know that one of the 7 ingredients in underwater concrete was animal blood? Jesus is going to tell him, You can't come with Me, but I do want you to go back and tell them what great things God has done for you. Pretty quickly the whole city was in an uproar. 2 And when he had stepped out of the boat, immediately a man out of the tombs with an unclean spirit met him. The Greek clause literally says, End of law is Christ but why bother finishing the sentence? William Arthur Dunkerley (November 12, 1852 January 23, 1941) was a prolific English journalist, novelist and poet. It all belongs to God. If a bunch of little children want a ball to play with and I toss them a grenade, am I off the hook if a kid pulls out the pin? (Quite likely David would have let the lion and the bear free, if not for the fact that they came back at him: 2 Samuel 17:35). The text of Mark 5 says pigs were nearby, but it doesnt say they were the only things nearby. It is now called Jerash and is a deserted ruin. The Greeks were believers in the spirit His sermon should have given us some point, some excuse, or some logical explanation for it all. That is, they appear contrary, except for one thing: Gods Law forbids righteous people from eating pork. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. Their line of reasoning supposes that Jesus wanted to save the man (men) but too many unclean spirits meant Jesus had to negotiate to get them to move out. Yet they tried to throw one of their own off a cliff (, Now, if a Jew can be treated so badly by fellow Jews, lets put on our thinking caps and imagine what happens to a Jew walking straight into a big group of Gentiles. p. 102. And based roughly on current prices, Jesus caused hundred of thousands of dollars in damages. It was part of the Greco-Roman region known as the Decapolis, or ten towns. or ten I agree the counter-arguments look flawless on the surface and that will be partially exposed now. (Only an amateur Hebraist would claim the latter, frankly.). Ruins of the temple of Artemis, some columns still standing, are on another hillside above the ruins. Mark as quoted by Spalde, Annika; Strindlund, Pelle (2012). God designated the descendants of Abraham, the Israelites, as His chosen people. Origen says this is a good example of how Biblical writers simply were not concerned to precisely identify certain sites. Echoes of Exodus in the Land of theGerasenes, Wesleys Eschatological Optimism Explains itAll, The Prophet in the Hometown A Pilgrim in Augsburg, The Methodist Million Dollar Appeal in World WarII. The pagan religions continued among the Gentile population as is evidenced by the ruins of the temple of Artemis. But what are its implications? Jesus made him whole. What good to us that Thou hast made him whole, since we have lost our swine? Is that not a picture of people that love what they have or what they want more than they love the One who loves their souls? During the time of Christ, the ten cities of Decapolis and the surrounding region were inhabited mostly by Gentiles, not Jews, and the area had a strong Greek influence. From the start, the evil spirits wanted to bring death and destruction, and they finally got their chance. }. Sign up now for the latest news and deals from Bible Gateway! But the height of ignorance, the most foolhardy statement is, Jesus fulfilled the whole Law so we dont have to. Only a person who knows absolutely zero about Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy would say such a thing. 2 Just as Jesus was getting out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit came He specifically banned pig in. That was a very large farming operation, even by the modern European and North American standards of today which typically do not have such giant herds. WebThe meaning of GENTILE is a person of a non-Jewish nation or of non-Jewish faith; especially : a Christian as distinguished from a Jew. WebAll three Synoptic Gospels ( Mark 5:120; Luke 8:2639; Matthew 8:2834) mention the swine miracle, although with variations. These demons of the Gadarene Demoniac wanted to stay in this territory where worship of Baal was predominant. (, Worse yet, dont trust one who says Scripture. In Jesus first trip to that Gentile area: They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes (in Gadara). First of all theyre forgetting that Jesus Himself has already said that His Heavenly Father cares even about the sparrows that fall from their nests. Its a weird story, but its in the Gospels a couple of times, so we have to accept it as truth. Seven facts why Jesus cast the demons to the pigs in Mark 5, but pastors still miss the point, We usually think of Jesus as the loving, forgiving guy from Galilee, right? Last Update: Jan 03, 2023 4 And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. I dont know of any illness that can do that. Its totally contrary to what we would expect. Once more, we have half of an unclear verse, that people use to make up a grand doctrine, all with the hopes it will magically annihilate one hundred clear, unambiguous verses which say the Law is permanent. Wnsche, Neue Beitrge zur Erluterung der Evangelien aus Talmud und Midrasch, p. 119. get to know the Bible better! These four miracle stories, also we said, in contrast to the miracles in Luke 4 and 5, are focused on settings where a small group of the disciples witness the miracles. So whats the point because Pastor John Piper feels the pigs were less important and John LOL MacArthur just jokes about the slaughter neither reaction seems sensible. conquest of Syria in 65 b.c. Lets return again to when Jesus cleaned up the Temple courtyard of merchants and merchandise. Only this interpretation explains the farmers restrained reaction over the slaughter of the swine, and their tremendous terror of the Messiah. The excavations uncovered what is to date the best preserved Rom. . There's a total change of nature in this man. when hes rolling around with a thousand killer-demons inside. Either way, dispensational charts ultimately commit both acts against the Word of God. Note that Jesus never touched the demon-inhabited individual: He merely spoke to him, commanding the evil to depart. Web(2) Ye know that ye were Gentiles.--Better (according to the weight of MSS. Working with the Law, and not against it, Jesus is shown to be completely in character and not out of his mind. The textual evidence shows that the MSS preserve three variant spellings of the name in each gospel. Also, Demetrius only needed to speak a few choice words against the Jew (compare with Act 19:34), to get the crowd all worked up the silversmith didnt have any real evidence that Pauls preaching was going to slow sales. The first two are in the Authorized Version. GERASA, GERASENES (, ). The pastors attempts to laugh off the haunting question about the meek and lowly Son of Man killing all the pigs is pathetic. So why pigs? In actual fact, when you stop to think about it, If our faithful, unchanging Heavenly Father God made a straightforward decisive yet divisive decision and repeated it, Fourth Fact: Gods Enduring, Unchangeable Word, As was just so elegantly discussed, the destruction of the herd, Your word, O LORD, is everlasting; it is firmly fixed in the heavens. In delivering the man from his bondage, Jesus restored creations promise. The gospels. He was clear that His mission was not to the Gentiles and Samaritans, but rather, to the lost tribe of Israel. While foretelling death and doom was often part of a prophets job description, the real task of each true prophet was to be an example to the people and to get everyone on board, or back on board, with the Law of God. Well this is a taste of the profound arguments that you will find in that book. One unambiguous (but hotly debated) verse that supports this doctrine is, 1 John 5:7: For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. So if we agree Messiah is part of the Godhead, then logically we agree Messiah also co-authored, with the Father, the Law of God. Webwere the gerasenes gentiles. He loves our souls. In other words, to paraphrase what Gertrude told Hamlet, Methinks the good pastor doth protest too much. We ask this in Jesus' name. Of course not. All Rights Reserved. All in all, after Jesus had trashed the livelihood of so many, we have to agree that they were more than gentle to let him off the hook and just asking him to leave town asap. (So much for those latter revelations or new religions arriving centuries later.). Sadly, GotQuestions misses the point, or they lie, saying that being distinct was all important to God. We said the last time that we were together that in Luke 8 you begin four miracle stories, all of which either happen in Galilee or in Gentile lands. Years earlier, when the ancient Israelis came to the border of the Promised Land, part of the eastern shore was controlled by the Geshurites (and the Maakathites) but Joshua told Israel to possess their land (, Last Fact: The coming Judgement Jews First, We have seen that God Almighty loves animals as much as humans, so Jesus randomly killing two thousand swine seems senseless, unless we remember God has commanded righteous people to avoid defiling food, such as pork. in which he transferred the demons afflicting a man to a number of swine, that thereupon rushed down a steep hill and perished. WebThe Gadarenes was the place where Jesus confronted a man whose possession by demons gave him a level of superhuman strength like Samson (Mark 5:3 - 5, Luke 8:27). In a recent online essay on the Gospel of Mark, Peter Leithart wrote. To that end, may I present. Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, [Let me just pause right there. 4 ) As R. Sol Urbin Ohel Moed teaches us, Technically, the greek word for swine is choiros, which many people think means swine, but in the Akkadian, and so with the Syriac, it really refers to an indigenous type of little lamb owned by sea-faring peasants, suitable for pets, grazing, shishkabob and MLT (Mutton, Lettuce and Tomato) sandwiches., 3 ) Pigs?? Without a doubt, both men know God never came up with the line, Third Fact: Not a fickle faithless Father. Most translations interpret the Hebrew to say. War III. Indeed, some believe that Jesuss single option was to let Legion loose on the animals. (, Although the Almightys statement is only one sentence in, For I myself witness truthfully to everyone hearing the words of the prophecy of this book, , Besides Johns cute play on words dont, Also, Orthodox Jews see a clear connection between, This curse should deter makers of dispensational charts from chopping up Scripture because having my share taken from the Book of Life, or my name , Also, Johns emphasis do not take away from , As a result, our biggest take-away lesson is to never take away from the Word of the Almighty.But dispensational-flavoured pastors ignore this and teach us that Moses and David and even Jesus lived by different rules.